Stretched
t-shirt, dry blood and badass attitude looked good on him. That’s nothing
compared to Harrison Everhart wearing a suit. His tall, broad, body wrapped in
a dark gray is a site I want to photograph, frame and stare at it forever. He’s
the type of man who behaves differently depending on the place and time. For
the past five hours, we chatted pleasantly about our families. Nothing too
superficial but nothing too intimate, either. If I had time to date, he’d be
the kind of man I’d choose. Easy to talk to, funny, and a gentleman.

A
refreshing touch from the guys who I hook up with when I have time to go out
with my friends. Which lately it’s been never. Maybe I have time, but I don’t
want to waste it by doing the same thing over and over again. Meeting a guy who
has little social skills, only talks about himself, and by the end of the date
is the only one who is satisfied isn’t great. I have my little friendly toys
that to do a better job and I don’t have to listen to nonsense.

This would
be a great subject for a sociology class; the interactions between humans, and
how out of touch they are with one another that dating has become a joke. What
happened to love letters? The chase is so much different now than it was back
when my parents dated. I should quit the Bureau and go back to school. Finish
my psychology degree, go into anthropology or sociology. I would enjoy doing
that more than having to jump through hoops to show that I’m capable of more
things than my superiors like to acknowledge. If anything, I can write a book
with Mom’s letters and notes.

A manual on
how it’s done.

“Everything
okay?” Harrison asks when the service car stops, and the driver opens my door. “You’ve
been quiet since we left the party.”

Define okay? My skin tingles every time you
touch me. Your deep voice makes me shiver, and dancing in your arms was a bit
torturous because everything inside me wanted you to touch more than my bare
shoulders and my waist. But yeah, I’m cool.

“Your
brother and Hazel never arrived at the party,” I comment, not disclosing that
I’d like to find out how my fake future boyfriend kisses. “Gia wasn’t there
either.”

“I’m sorry about that. If you want, I can try
to find out her whereabouts. My people can hack her phone and track her daily
activities. He smirks and winks. “We can start stalking her.”

“Stalking?”
I boom, laughing and covering my mouth when a couple walking close to us turns
to glare at me.

“Yeah,
that’s the word and you know what they say, ‘couples that stalk together stay
together.’” He grins, his blue-crystal eyes shining with the post light.

That grin
is addictive. I shouldn’t mind pretending to be with him while I’m working. A
little fun on the side, some sexy times. Sex. I haven’t had that in a long
time. So long that I can only remember what my toys can do for me. But I care.
He’s a distraction. Each time he smirks, touches me or talks with the
low-bedroom voice I want to jump him. That’s not only unprofessional but also
illogical.

“Anything
for the sake of the case, right?” My voice comes out a little throaty, needy.

He clears
his throat, looking around and poking the elevator. “We should do this again,”
he says, leaning closer to me.

“Technically,
we have to do it again.”

Have I
mentioned this is the best case I’ve ever worked on in my entire life.” He
leans forward, kissing my cheek. His lips lingering close to my ear for one too
many seconds. His musk-wood scent making my stomach flutter.

“Thank
you,” I swallow hard, turning around and stepping into the elevator. “We can
discuss our next move tomorrow.”

I poke the
elevator, looking at the doors that start closing his gaze locks with
mine. His eyes darken, the intensity of
that gaze makes me feel vulnerable, bare. I imagine my skin searing with the
touch of his big hands. As the doors close, my phone rings. An incoming
message. Unknown number reads the screen.

Unknown:This was
the best first date I’ve had in a long time. Thank you.

Claudia grew up with a childhood that resembled a
caffeine-injected soap opera.She lives in Colorado working for a small IT company, managing her household
filled with three confused dogs, her geek husband, two daughters wrought with
fandoms and a son who thinks he’s the boss of the house. To survive she works
continually to find purpose for the voices flitting through her head, plus she
consumes high quantities of chocolate to keep the last threads of sanity
intact.